NEWS DESK
Trail blazing for story yarns
Community safety forum at town hall
KINGSTON residents are invited to a free forum in Chelsea on Saturday to discuss safety in the community. They will hear from the police, CFA, SES, Coast Guard, ambulance officers and councillors at the forum at Chelsea Town Hall, corner Thames Promenade and Station St, 11am1pm, Saturday 14 October. The first 50 people through the door will go into the draw to win $100 Bunnings vouchers. Other giveaways include anti-theft number plate screws, smoke alarms and batteries, padlocks and personal protective gear. Light refreshments will be provided. Register at eventbrite.com.au or call Kingston Council on 9581 4807.
YARNS about yarns are weaving their way from Chelsea to Frankston as part of the annual Longbeach Storybook Yarn Art Trail. Wander and wonder at yarn displays based on children’s tales including The Jungle Book, The Magic Hat and My Aussie Ocean Adventure. The storybook yarn art trail, organised by Longbeach PLACE community centre, runs from 9-31 October and families can drop in at schools, libraries, aged care centres and churches along the way to see art works that will fire up young children’s imagination. Volunteer co-organiser Penny Clay said the Longbeach Storybook Yarn Art Trail is an all-ages event. “This annual project engages the community at all levels and involves all age groups and there’s probably never been such a need for this chance to connect with child-like wonder at the fun and colour of these wonderful installations,” she said. “We are a small core group who are very fortunate in having the expertise of textile artist Elizabeth Alexandrou and Jenny Bowman is a graphic artist who designs our great promotional materials. “We’re passing on the skills of working with yarn to children at free workshops at Chelsea Library.” n See longbeach.org.au or call 9776 1386 for venue details, including specific viewing times of exhibits indoors, for the Longbeach Storybook Yarn Art Trail.
Car under truck
AN elderly man was lucky to escape serious injury when his car ran into the back of a truck under the Skye Rd bridge on Peninsula Link, Frankston, Thursday 5 October. Roadworks up ahead had slowed traffic at the accident site and only one lane was getting through. Leading Senior Constable Greg Wolfe, of Somerville Highway Patrol, said the 83-year-old, of Carrum, passed out before running into the truck. He was alone in the car. His 1993 Toyota Corolla was extensively damaged and he was taken to Frankston Hospital for observation. Leading Senior Constable Wolfe said drivers aged over 80 “should be discussing with their GPs their fitness to drive”. “Age was definitely a factor in two previous accidents in which drivers aged over 80 passed away after making errors,” he said. “Older drivers who feel they have issues with their cognitive functions should be having discussions with their GPs.”
Butterfly effect: Chelsea Primary School’s Allira, back and Chelsea Kindergarten’s Eilish finish off a yarn artwork at the kindergarten. Picture: Gary Sissons
Sharing is caring for yacht club Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au PLANS to redevelop Parkdale Yacht Club have hit choppy waters after a 5-4 majority of Kingston councillors decided to temporarily halt detailed designs for the building to try to find community groups interested in cohabiting with the yacht club. Councillors at the latest public council meeting on 25 September were poised to push ahead with instructing council officers to proceed with “detailed design development” for a revamp of the club building be-
fore Cr Rosemary West raised concerns about funding for the project. Cr West said at the meeting that council should not “depart from tradition” and use ratepayers’ money to fund a foreshore development without a “partnership grant” from the state government. “With an election coming up, it seems to me that the club needs to speak to the candidates and see if they can get commitments — hopefully commitments from both candidates,” she said. “In that case, we could go ahead. This is certainly a shovel ready project and there’s a lot to be said for it.”
Council has budgeted $2.34 million for a revamp of the yacht club with the Parkdale Yacht Club set to contribute $100,000 to the project. The next state election will be held in November next year. Cr Geoff Gledhill, the Liberal Party candidate for Mordialloc in the electorate that includes Parkdale, believed the move to postpone detailed designs a redevelopment of the yacht club was “a delaying tactic”. “If people don’t like it, if they don’t want to do it then we should stop pretending we do and tell the Parkdale Yacht Club to sail off into the sunset.” Cr Gledhill said council needed to
get on with the design of the building to check with the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) that the changes would be acceptable “after the fiasco with Edithvale”. The DELWP has declared designs for a new Edithvale Life Saving Club building do not meet Coastal Management Act regulations (“Club house in coastal ‘dog house’”, The News 4/10/17). Cr Gledhill acknowledged a co-tenancy arrangement would be of benefit to the community. “There are times when a yacht club is not going to be fully utilised in its
facilities so I think it makes good sense to have somebody else in there.” Crs West, Tamara Barth, the mayor Cr David Eden, Georgina Oxley and Steve Staikos voted to have council officers seek expressions of interests to share the building with the yacht club before proceeding with detailed designs. Crs Gledhill, Ron Brownlees, Tamsin Bearsley and George Hua opposed the move. Councillor officers will come back to councillors in about three months’ time with information about any interest in sharing the yacht club building.
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Store Locations Springvale Dandenong Noble Park
9548 4199 9706 8108 9540 8807
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340 Frankston Dandenong Rd
Crn Swift Way • Dandenong South 9706 4486 Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News 11 October 2017
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